Merciful.

"Goodnight, little bird."

Originally published in Anomalies & Curiosities: An Anthology of Gothic Medical Horror, published by Quill & Crow Publishing House.

Jolted by a loud smack against the window, Clare nearly dropped her rosary. Her heartbeat rose in her throat as she unraveled from her genuflection, tucking the string of beads back into their pouch with shaking hands as she left the chapel to investigate. 

A sharp gale hit as she rounded the corner, and she tightened the shawl around her shoulders. She moved toward the flower bed to investigate, only to find a sparrow twitching helplessly on the frozen earth. She frowned, determining that it must have flown into the closed window. From the tiny bones that poked out from between its feathers and the way the blood pooled beneath it, she knew there was no hope. Its beady eyes were wide and terrified, a creature unaware that it would soon meet its loving maker. Perhaps it would fly free once more behind Heaven’s gates. She decided not to prolong its agony and removed her shawl to scoop it up.

It struggled for only a moment, a fruitless attempt to fight her firm grasp before it went still. She waited to ensure it was dead before heading toward the nearby cemetery. She found a pile of brush beside the infant graves and said a quick prayer as she laid it to rest. “Goodnight, little bird.”